Air-flow ceiling arrangements



Nov. 11, 1958 J. R. RACHLIN 2,859,681

AIR-FLOW CEILING ARRANGEMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28, 1956 Nov. 11, 1958 J. R. RACHLIN AIR-FLOW CEILING ARRANGEMENTS 2 Sheets-Shee t 2 Filed March 28, 1956 United States Patent 2,859,681 AIR-FLOW CEILING ARRANGEMENTS Joel R. Rachlin, Brookfield, Wis. Application March 28, 1956, Serial No. 574,446

1 Claim. (CI. 98-40) This invention relates to air-flow ceiling arrangements more particularly of the'type including a sub-ceiling suspended from the main ceiling to provide therebetween a plenum chamber for air under slight but appreciable pressure, forheating, cooling, or ventilating, which air is then dispersed downwardly into the room through distribution means over a large area of the room but in which the open area is substantially less than the total area of the sub-ceiling.

Among other objects, the present invention provides an improved air outlet member for the foregoing purpose that may be economically produced in quantities and that affords simplified and improved means for readily regulating the open area therein.

A further object is to provide an outlet member from which the air is dispers'ed in a direction not only normal to the ceiling but also at an angle thereto and which provides an ornamental beam-like effect for the ceiling, the outlet member at the same time furnishing the support for individual ornamental or acoustic tile or other grid type paneling of which the sub-ceiling may be largely formed. I

A further object of the invention is the provision of an outlet member of such cross-section as to serve as a long span beam and providing support means for transverse auxiliary supportingbars for the tile.

A still further object is the provision of a novel clasp member for mounting the air outlet member at its ends on a 'wall molding or the like at the corner of the ceiling.

Another object is the provision of a novel splice piece for connecting longitudinally abutted outlet members. These and other objects and advantages will be ap parent from the following description, taken together with incorporating the present inventions broken away for illustration;

Figure 2 is another perspective fragmentary view taken g above the sub-ceiling, somewhat enlarged;

Figure 3 is a perspective fragmentary view of the inverted channel part of the outlet member, further enlarged; i

Figure 4 is aperspective fragmentary view of the perfofated face cap for the outlet member of Fig. 3;

FigureS is a somewhat similar perspective fragmentary View of the sliding closure panel for use with the face cap;

H Figure 6 is a perspective view of a clasp member for mounting the outlet member on the wall molding;

Figure 7 is a view of a splice member for aligning two longitudinally abutted outlet member sections;

F-igure 8 is a perspective view on a reduced scale of two such aligned section ends and the splice of Fig. 7 used therewith;

Figure 9 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the outlet member mounted on the wall molding by means of the clasp of Fig. 6;

Figure 10 is a cross-section taken on the line 10-10 of Fig. 9 showing also the main ceiling and supplementary suspension means for the sub-ceiling;

Figure 11 is a fragmentary plan section taken on the line 1111 of Fig. 10;

Figure 12 shows a perspective fragmentary view of one of a transverse auxiliary bar, carrying clip means for connecting it to the outlet member;

Figure 13 shows the auxiliary bar associated with the outlet member and a fragment of a ceiling tile supported by both;

Figure 14 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view, looking from below, of a ceiling arrangement embodying the present invention omitting the auxiliary bars; and

Figure 15 is a somewhat similar View of a ceiling arrangement including the auxiliary bars.

Referring in detail to constructions illustrative of the present invention shown in the drawings, the numeral 21 indicates in general a sub-ceiling of the class here referred to that may be suspended from the main ceiling 22 (Fig. 10) of a room or the like. The main ceiling may include reinforcement means such as the light-weight channel beam 23 from which the sub-ceiling 21 may be suspended, as for example by hanger wires 24 strung over the beam 23 and suitably connected with a combined air outlet and sub-support member 26, the wires being shown passedthrough holes 25 in the outlet bar.

Following the present invention, the air outlet 26 provides not only a passageway and distribution means for air therethrough but also a longitudinally elongated support for ceiling tile 27 that may make up the larger part of the sub-ceiling. This tile may be ornamented in appearance and have desirable acoustical properties as is well known in the art. Blocks of the tile 27, abutted edge to edge, are shown supported by spaced apart parallel outlet members 26 (Fig. 2) or, for example, as seen in Fig. l, by the outlet member and, adjacent the wall of the room, by a sheet metal wall molding 28.

It will be understood that, in one well known use of a sub-ceiling of the type here referred to, the space 29 (Fig. 10) between the sub-ceiling 2i and the main ceiling 22 constitutes an air pressure space or plenum chamber for the reception of air under pressure from any suitable source, not necessary to be here described. In an important aspect of the present invention, the air outlet members 26 provide restricted passageways from the plenum chamber 29 for the air to be dispersed into the room below, suitably distributed for ventilating and other purposes already mentioned.

Turning now to details of the outlet member 26, and in accordance with the present invention, the latter is desirably formed of sheet metal and bent upon itself to inverted channel shape having a somewhat cylindrical bight portion 30 and side walls 31, and terminating at its lower end in laterally outwardly extending flanges 32. Just below the bight 30, the side walls 31 are brought together and preferably abutted as at 33 and it is in these abutted portions 33 that the holes 25 are shown for the hanger wires 24.

Next below the abutted side portions 33, the sides 31 downwardly and outwardly diverge in flaring portions 34, and, therebelow, extend downwardly, with a slightly less flare, in the portions 35, terminating in substantially upright parallel portions 36 which are contiguous to the flanges 32 respectively. The portions 36 are desirably longitudinally corrugated or roughened as at 37. Thus the side walls 31 form a somewhat mansard-roof-like shape for the outlet member between its bight and its flanges. Inthe flaring portions 34,-at longitudinally,

spaced intervals therealong, are slot intakes or openings 38 that provide restricted apertures for the passage of air from the plenum chamber 29 into the interior of the Outlet member 26.

Dispersal of air from the interior of the outlet member 26 to the room below is made by the distribution member 39 that provides a face cap for the lower end of the outlet member. sirably of longitudinally elongated trough shape, having the fiat lower wall 49 and upwardly outwardly flaring walls 41 which terminate inshort inturned flanges 42, by means of which latter the distribution member 39 is supported on the flanges 32 of the outlet member. The distribution member may be telescoped onto the outlet member from one end or one of the flanges 42 may be bent over onto the adjacent flange 32 after the distribution member 39 is located in position on the outlet member. As here shown, both the lower wall 40 and the side walls 41 of the distribution member are perforated by spaced apart holes 43 that provide air distribution outlets.

Further in accordance with the present invention, a slide panel 44, also of elongated channel form conform: ing generally to the shape of the distribution member 39, is superimposed on the upper face of the latter, longitudinally movable with respect thereto, being held from displacement other than longitudinally by the flanges 32 of the outlet member and side walls 41 of member 39. The slide panel 44 is also perforated as at 45 in both its bottom and side walls on center-to-center spacings corresponding to the equivalent arrangement of the perforations 43 in the member 39. The size of the perforations 43 and 45 and their center-to-center spacing is such that the space between the perforations is equivalent to the diameter thereof so that the slide panel 44 may he slid longitudinally in the distribution member 39 from a position in which the perforations 43 and 45 are fully in register, in which case the slide panel provides no restriction for the perforations 43, to any selected position in which the slide panel does provide either a complete closure therefor, or a restriction for The distribution member 39 is de-- the perforations 43, of any desired extent or degree. In I order to permit relative movement of the slide panel 44 with respect to the distribution member 39, the slide panel is of shorter longitudinal length than the distribution member, as indicated at 46 in Fig. 9. To permit further flexibility in the use of the slide panel 44, the latter may be of say a third of the length of the outlet member 26, and there may be blank spaces, at, say, several feet apart in the perforated faces of the outlet member 26 as at 47, in which no perforations 43 appear, the slide panel 44 extending between such blank spaces and terminating short of two successive such spaces. Movement of the slide panel with respect to the distribution member may be accomplished by inserting an utensil such as an ice pick, 'for example, into one of the perforations 43, to abut the edge of a perforation and there pressing on the slide panel in the direction in which it is desired to move it.

Where the outlet members 26 run transversely to a wall molding 28, as illustrated in Fig. 9, the end of the outlet member 26 is desirably arranged to abut the molding 28 and to be mounted on the latter by means of a clasp member shown in perspective in Fig. 6 and indicated by the numeral 48. The clasp 48 is also of inverted channel shape and formed somewhat similarly to the upper end of the member 26, having a partially cylindrical bight 49 that telescopes onto the bight 30 of the member 26, the restricted sides 50 of the clip being spaced apart in this instance sufiiciently to have entered between them the abutted side portions 33 of the member 26. Therebelow, the clip 49 flares outwardly as at 51 to receive the flared portions 34 of the member 26 I and therebelow again flares outwardly as at 52 to receive the side portions 35 of the member 26. The length of the clasp 49 is desirably such as to receive the outlet member 26 therein for approximately half the length of the clasp while for the other half of its length the clasp is slitted as at 53 on each of its sides 51, the slits 53 opening into the outer end of the clasp so as to receive the upper lateral flange 54 of the wall molding 28 (Fig. 9) thus connecting the member 26 to the molding for purposes of mounting the end of the outlet members on the molding. The molding 28 may be secured to the wall 54a in any suitable manner not necessary to be here described as it forms no part of the present invention.

In the case of large rooms it may be desirable to abut two of the members 26 end to end and in that arrangement the splice piece 55 shown in Fig. 7 may be employed in a manner shown in-Fig. 8, the splice piece having a partially cylindrical longitudinal element 56 that receives the cylindrical bight 30 of the member 26 and a pair of shorter depending tabs 57 that receive between them the abutted portions 33 of the side walls of the member 26.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2, for example, the ceiling tile 27 may be of a size of say 12 inches by 24 inches and the outlet members 26 may be spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the shorter dimension of the tile, namely a little more than 12 inches center to center, and this ceiling effect would be indicated somewhat diagrammatically in Fig. 14 which would be a view looking up at such a ceiling arrangement. In such an arrangement no transverse auxiliary bars are necessary to support the tile 27, the longer or twenty-four inch edges of which rest on one of the flanges 32 of an outlet member 26 and abutting the side portion 36 of the outlet member. The corrugations 37 provide a roughened surface guarding against upward displacement of the tile.

Where larger tile are used, say forty-eight by fortyeight inches in dimensions, a transverse auxiliary bar 58 such as is shown in Figs. 12 and 13 may be employed. In the latter arrangement, the outlet members 26 would be spaced farther apart to present with the transverse bars 58 a ceiling pattern looking from below somewhat as seen in Fig. 15. Here tile members such as 59 would besupported along one edge by a flange 32 of the outlet member 26 and along another transverse edge by a flange 60 of the auxiliary bar 58. The bar 58 of inverted T-shape may be formed of sheet metal folded upon itself as indicated to provide its upright portion 61 and laterally outwardly turned to provide the flanges 60. To conceal the space 62 between the folded portions of the bar, the lower face of the latter may be covered by a facing strip 63 of any suitable material to present an ornamental appearance.

The auxiliary bar 58 conveniently rests at one end on a flange 32 of the outlet member 26. To hold the auxiliary bar against displacement with respect to the outlet member 26, the bar may carry a clip 64 of inverted U-shape that springs over the bight 30 of the outlet member as indicated in Fig. 13. To retain the clip 64 securely in position on the auxiliary bar the clip may have the right angularly related shank 65 provided with spaced apart lugs 66 that engage over the top edge of the bar 58, there being between them a pair of opposed tongues ,67 and 68, the tongue 68 being passed through the slot 69 in the web of the bar 58 and bent upwardly, and the tongue 67 being bent downwardly over the top edge of the bar, thus effecting a secure attachment. The clip 64 itself may have its outer leg slit longitudinally as at 70 to present a pair of spring fingers 71 that facilitate engagement of the clip 64 with the bight 30 of the outlet housing 26.

In practice, air, for heating, cooling or ventilation is pumped into the plenum chamber 29 by any suitable means well known to the art to build up an air pressure in this chamber. From thence this air passes through the restricted openings 38 in the outlet member 26, which are in communication with the plenum chamber 29 above the tile 27. The air entering the outlet member 26 through the intake ,38 is then distributed downwardly into the room through the perforations 43 of the face cap 39 more or less closed, as desired, by the slide panel 44, the air being distributed not only downwardly, normally to the sub-ceiling, through the perforations 43 in the flat surface 40 of the face cap 39, but also at an angle thereto, such as forty-five degrees, by the perforations 43 in the channel walls 41. The inverted flared channel cross-section of the outlet member enhances air expansion therein and consequent uniformity of distribution.

For purposes well know to the art, the open area, by reason of the perforations 43, in the face member 39, may be greater than the open area provided by the apertures 38 in the outlet housing so that the air pressure within the outlet housing is less than the air pressure in the plenum chamber 29, to effect a drop in pressure before the air enters the room, thereby to avoid objectionable drafts, by causing the air to enter the room at relatively low velocity and well distributed. If the drop in pressure between the plenum chamber and the interior of the outlet member be greater than desired to afford uniform distribution throughout all of the perforations 43 of the outlet, the slide panel 44 may be arranged to overlap the perforations 43 to a somewhat greater extent to reduce the effective open area of the face cap 39 and thus enhance the uniformity of air distribution therethrough.

The face cap 39 may be furnished in a variety of different sized perforations, although a feature of the present invention is that by reason of the slide panel 44 one standard perforation arrangement for the space cap 39 will generally be preferable. By suitable adjustments of the outlet member and the sliding panel, optimum air change in an average room, with, say, a nine foot ceiling, may be effected every five minutes or in other words, introduction of sufiicient air to the room may be accomplished to produce twelve changes per hour. Where the arrangement is used for heating or cooling rather than merely for ventilation, balancing of the heating and cooling system may be readily accomplished by means of the slide panel 44, placing this in a position either to reduce the effective open area of the face cap 39 or to shut off some of the perforations therein completely, as already described.

By reason of the rather large cross-sectional area of the outlet member 26, and particularly the vertical di mension thereof, this member lends itself to long span use, in some cases, say for smaller size rooms, without the need for the hanger wires 24 or substantially reducing pan cap 39 the blank places in the cap without perforations such as indicated at 47, already referred to, may be say five inches long with the perforated pattern between them say thirty-six inches long. With this arrangement the slide panels could be thirty-eight inches long to allow one inch movement for each slide in either direction, without interference with the adjacent slide panel.

Even with the larger size tile, where it is not thought necessary to conceal the lateral joints of the adjoining tiles, it may be desirable to eliminate the auxiliary cross bars 58, since the tiles are securely supported by the flanges 32 of the outlet members 26. If desired, instead of the cross bars 58 of T-formation, auxiliary transverse members constructed like the outlet members 26, but of shorter length, may be employed.

There are thus here provided sub-ceiling arrangements of enhanced versatility which permit a wide flexibility of design facilitating the work of the architects and the heating and ventilating engineers.

The invention is not intended to be limited to details of construction shown for purposes of illustration, and furthermore, as already indicated, it may not be necessary in all arrangements to employ all features of the invention conjointly since various combinations and subcombinations may at times be advantageously employed. Such changes may be made as fall within the scope of the appended claim without departing herefrom.

What is here claimed is:

For use with a pressurized plenum air-flow sub-ceiling arrangement of the class described, a combined support beam and air outlet member therefor formed of sheet metal bent upon itself to inverted channel shape to provide a substantially cylindrical bight portion and a pair of depending side portions each flaring laterally outwardly in a first flaring portion and then in a second flaring portion at a different angle to provide jointly a mansard roof-like cross section for the member, longitudinally spaced apart slots in the first flaring portion for admission of air thereinto, the said side portions terminating at their lower ends in laterally'outwardly extending flanges for supporting ceiling tiles, said flanges being inclined slightly downwardly, and an overall perforated air distribution panel of flat bottom trough-like cross-section having upwardly flaring edges crimped over the outer edges of said flanges, whereby the perforated area of said distribution panel is wider than the distance between said tiles and air is distributed throughout said wider area, and the downwardly inclined flanges accommodate the crimped edges of the panel below the tile.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 781,538 Lyster Jan. 31, 1905 2,655,348 Siering Oct. 13, 1953 2,730,942 Peterson Ian. 17, 1956 

